According to Reba Patten Mason, her grandfather, William “Bill” Snead, was born in 1866, a year after the War Between the States ended. He died at the age of 97. He had fallen down the steps of his house in Nashville, and broken a hip. Surgery was done and a pin was put in by his doctor. The doctor said that Bill had the heart of a 40-year-old. Unfortunately, Bill Snead died six months later, after he developed pneumonia due to being bedridden.

Today’s medical advancements could have prolonged his life. With rehab, Bill might have lived even longer than his 97 years. He never had a shot, didn’t go to the doctor, and seemed not to have had health issues, until he broke his hip. He smoked a pipe, and occasionally drank some good whiskey brought to him by his son-in-law, Colonel Dewitt Sapp, from Atlanta.